S25 Founder's Guide to Iterative's Applications (with LIVE pitch deck review)
📣 Attention Southeast Asia founders - are you ready to propel your startup to the next level?
Join us to discover insider tips and tricks for crafting a successful application to Iterative's 12-week program.
In this session, Iterative Co-Founder and Managing Partner (and 2x founder) Hsu Ken Ooi will also be reviewing and sharing feedback on founders’ applications if they submit a deck in advance.
What to expect:
🏋️ Specific feedback on your application if you submit a deck (find out how below)
👀 What we look for in startups and founders
🪄 Tips to improve your chances of securing an investment
✖️ Common mistakes to avoid
📚 Resources to help you submit a great application
The application deadline is on Friday 27 June 2025 for our Summer 2025 batch. No fees, an upfront investment of up to USD $500K, and 3 months of targeted support from experts and visiting partners. Join our event to learn more!
Format
10 mins: We’ll share what a good Iterative application looks like, what mistakes to avoid, and how you can increase your chances of securing a spot.
40 mins: Hsu Ken provides feedback on founder’s applications.
10 mins: Q&A
Submit Your Pitch Deck
During Iterative’s Group Office Hours, we believe learning from each other makes everyone better. That’s why we invite founders to share their pitch decks for collective feedback and support during this virtual event.
We won't review your entire deck during the session, however Hsu Ken will display selected slides to give context to his feedback.
If your pitch deck contains sensitive information (e.g. traction, revenue, etc.), please omit those slides in your submission. You’re welcome to share that info separately in the body of your email.
🗓 Submit by: Tuesday, 17 June at 10am
📩 Email to: judy@iterative.vc
What to submit: A pitch deck for your startup — ideally the one you’re using to apply to Iterative. You may leave out any slides with sensitive details.
Important Notes:
We may not be able to go through everyone’s deck due to time limits.
Selected slides from your deck may be shown on screen during the session.
Do not include anything you’re uncomfortable sharing publicly.
About Iterative
Iterative was founded for founders, by founders. We are a YC-style program focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. No fees, an upfront investment of up to USD $500K and 3 months of targeted growth and fundraising support, which culminates in a Demo Day to a network of 400+ investors. Apply for the program.
Since we’ve been founded in 2020, we’ve invested in 100+ companies and 200+ founders. These companies have gone on to raise $168M and are collectively worth over $1.2B.
Our mission is to increase the GDP of Southeast Asia through entrepreneurship. To do that, we need to (1) make entrepreneurship more accessible to more people and (2) give founders the tools and support to be successful. As part of this mission, we run events like this to help founders solve their biggest problems.
About Speaker
Hsu Ken Ooi is a Managing Partner at Iterative. He was previously the Chief Product Officer of Workmate, an on-demand blue collar staffing platform in Southeast Asia. In 2014, he was VP of Product at Weave (YCS14). In 2009, he started Decide.com an early machine learning company that predicted the future price of consumer goods. It was acquired by eBay in 2013.